ITALY: Apotheosis of Fascism

The past week found Signer Benito Mussolini, patron saint of Fascism and Prime Minister of Italy, busy attending Fascista celebrations in Cremona, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Perugia, Rome.

The celebrations in the Eternal City (TIME, Nov. 5) were most spectacular. Thousands of people were abroad as the first signs of dawn were visible on the eastern skies. Later, with the sun shining brightly on the beflagged capital of Italy, 8,000 black-shirted Fascisti marched the streets, Premier Mussolini at their head. It was the first anniversary of the historic and spectacular entry into Rome of the Fascisti.

The procession, sustained by the Fascista battle-song, Giovinezza, at last came to Piazza Venezia. Mussolini was the cynosure of all eyes. Dismounting from his carriage, he walked, with his arm outstretchedbefore him in the Roman salute, past the tomb of Italy’s Unknown Warrier, around which were men, women and children bowed in silent prayer. The spectators were moved to tears.

Then, with aeroplanes flying above, Mussolini led his Fascisti legions past the King. Eight thousand Fascisti at the Roman salute marched past His Majesty and loud and long were the cries of Evviva il Re! Evvica Savoia!

At night Signer Mussolini received in the Palazzo Venezia. Members of the Royal Family and 200 of the King’s most illustrious subjects were invited.

The King pardoned political prisoners guilty of offences punishable by sentences of under three years’ imprisonment.

Some dicta of Mussolini, during the week:

“A dictatorship can last forever, if properly managed. It is my task to provide mechanism that will endure and to have the various parts of this mechanism running without friction; then after I am gone it will be able to run itself. A dictatorship must answer the purpose for which it was introduced. Certainly the Fascist regime will last a very long time. . . .

“Parliament is there. It exists. I use it whenever necessary. … It is very quiet, behaves itself and doesn’t create much disturbance. I don’t know about the Parliaments in other countries. Every country has its own history and its own problems which must be handled according to the tastes and needs of those countries.

“I am an optimist for old Europe. It is capable of reestablishment, but the means whereby this will be obtained form a great subject and would occupy much time in the telling. . . .

” Parliamentary functions today waste an enormous amount of time over speeches by people who are not fit to tackle problems. It is to the newspapers that we have to go for expert opinion. Today the real parliament is the press. When Parliaments first started there was neither the press nor trades unions, both of which play a most important part in modern political and social life. . . . “

A dictatorship has no doctrine, but when a dictatorship is a necessity we must accept it. Socialism works on the principle that all are equal, but Fascism knows we are far from equal. Take the great masses of human beings. They like rule by the few. …”

In recalling practical Fascist accomplishments he said:

“We ratified the Washington Labor Congress. We guarantee the validity of contracts when they are duly registered. Fascisti labor unionism, as recently shown at Geneva, means social collaboration.

“With the Reds, strikes are the usual thing; with the Fascisti they are the exception and the last resort. Strikes are always costly because each strike means the ruin of a certain amount of wealth and demands many weeks for recuperation of what was lost.

“Collective contracts are the great feature of the Fascisti Labor Party. The Reds say that Italian farm laborers are our prisoners but, as we have contracts signed by 1,600,000 of such, it stands to reason that they are not prisoners but free.

“Our system in trades unionism is to have a union of laborers and a union of employers with the Fascisti Party in between. They meet to discuss disputes and they decide on a contract by collective bargaining, the Government’s function being to enforce the decision.”